DUCKS 4, ST. LOUIS 2: Victory over Blues leaves Anaheim behind only Chicago for league's best record

The Ducks reached the midway point of the lockout-shortened, 48-game season with an unmistakable swagger. They shrugged off a pair of one-goal deficits and rallied for a 4-2 victory Sunday over the St. Louis Blues in front of a sellout crowd of 17,174 at the Honda Center.

Only the Chicago Blackhawks (21-2-3) are ahead of the Ducks (18-3-3) today in the NHL's overall standings. Only a hockey savant and perhaps Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau would have believed it would be possible when the season's first puck dropped on Jan. 19.

"I'm a bad guy to ask because I dream about being 48-0. I know it's unrealistic, but every game you go into you have to believe you're going to win," Boudreau said after the Pacific Division-leading Ducks tied a franchise record with their 11 th consecutive home victory.

"But then you sit back and you look and it's a pretty good record at this stage. I'm still watching every game and teams; you don't want them too close. The way the schedule goes, this year especially, if you have a bad week and other teams have a good week, you can be caught."

The Ducks did the catching Sunday against St. Louis. They fell behind 1-0 only 6:09 into the game when the Blues' Ryan Reaves scored on a deflection of Wade Redden's shot from near the left point. Andrew Cogliano tied it with a short-handed goal at 8:24 of the second period.

St. Louis went ahead 2-1 on Patrik Berglund's power-play goal only 1:41 into the third, but the Ducks tied it when Bobby Ryan slammed home a rebound at 3:11 and went ahead 3-2 on the first of Corey Perry's two goals at 5:20. Perry added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Easy-peasy.

Or so it seems in this remarkable bounce-back season for the Ducks.

"We've played in all different situations throughout the year," Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said. "We've played with leads. We've played from behind. We've won close games and other games. When you're playing well, you try to stick with that confidence that you can do it."

Last season, especially in the first days and weeks, the Ducks cracked at the first hint of trouble. They skated with almost zero confidence and their under-achieving play led to the firing of Randy Carlyle as their coach and the hiring of Boudreau on Nov. 30, 2011.

Boudreau installed a new free-flowing system and instilled a new attitude, too. There were signs of a change in the Ducks' psyche last season, but they were too far behind to rejoin the playoff race and missed the postseason for the second consecutive time.

This season, everything seems to be clicking.

Certainly, Cogliano's short-handed goal, the fourth of his career, was a game-changer. But so was Ryan's ninth goal of the season.

Perry capped the comeback.

"Everybody here knows what's going on and the role they're supposed to be playing," Perry said. "Everyone is adapting to it. We're staying positive when we get down in games, whether it's early or, like tonight, in the third period.

"We find a way to win. We don't deviate from our game plan."

The Ducks looked like they forgot to spring ahead when the game began Sunday, and the Blues pounced on them from the opening faceoff. Goaltender Jonas Hiller kept it from being worse than 1-0 and later 2-1, however. He made 29 saves and improved to 8-2-2.

Perry's deft deflection of Getzlaf's wrist shot from just off the top of the faceoff circle slipped past St. Louis goalie Jaroslav Halak while the Ducks were on a power play to give them their first lead less than two minutes after Ryan tied the score 2-2.

"When you believe you can win, when you've been in all situations, it helps," Boudreau said. "If we were a team that was 5 and 12 and something, we probably would have said, 'Here we go again.'

"But when you're a team that's had a little bit of success, you start thinking you're going to find a way."